Sunday, 15 September 2013

A trip to Ludlow Food Festival... (PICTURE HEAVY POST)

I remember, back when I first started this blog, I seemed to go on a lot more day trips but recently, that seems to have fallen by the wayside slightly. I don't know whether this is because I forget to take photos or perhaps just because I don't tend to go on as many little trips anymore but Mark and I have both said that we want to bring back our day trips and explore a little bit more. We live in such a beautiful area, it seems a shame not to visit as much of it as possible...

This weekend I went to Ludlow with Mark and his family to visit to the Ludlow Food Festival - bread, cheese and marquees? Count me in!

Last time we visited Ludlow (back in November last year) it was absolutely freezing and rained for the whole day but despite some thunderclouds the weather was perfect...

Ludlow is one of those places that has a mix of stuff you would find on every high street (Costa, Boots) and some really lovely independent shops. I popped into The Castle Bookshop which was lovely (working for a publisher, I really love spotting my work's books whenever I am in a bookshop #sad) and despite buying a lot of books online (nobody mention the A word!) there's nothing quite like a bookshop!

The 'Books Are My Bag' campaign is aimed at getting people to visit and support their local bookshops and rediscover their love of reading. I was super excited to get my hands on a 'Books Are My Bag' tote bag - I will definitely be the coolest kid at the gym ;)

All of the shops in the town had dressed their windows especially for the festival and this was my favourite, I love the braces/cravat combo!

There were lots of jams, chutneys and cordials but these were my favourite, I really love the packaging!

Possibly the highlight of the day for me was this rather fat old dog who you could give a cuddle for a donation to the Animal Hospital. Mark was very pleased :)

As is usual for a food festival, there was lots of delicious food to try and I plumped for falafel, salad and toasted pitta bread for lunch...

Cheese, glorious cheese! You could tell which stalls were selling cheese as they were about 20 people deep. You can see how popular they were as the little sample pots were completely empty, haha!

Loads of stalls were selling oak smoked garlic which smelt divine!

Our festival ticket gave us free entry into the castle which was amazing, it also had even more stalls in and even a circus skills workshop (which I didn't take part in but it was very popular with the children onsite!)

This band - who were playing in the castle moat - was great, I wish I got their name!

Lots of excited looking visitors! I want a turret for myself though...

Just a little snack for tea ;) - tomato and basil bread, brie, crackers and the biggest Scotch egg known to man, absolutely delicious! I really enjoyed the festival but I would like to visit Ludlow when there isn't some kind of festival on, I imagine it is even nicer without so many people!

I always enjoy food festivals, I'm quite disappointed that I can't go to Abergavenny one next week as that is always a great day out. Probably a good thing now I'm on Slimming World!I look forward to the pictures of your next adventure! xx

Oh this place looks beautiful! I have such a soft spot for these types of village festivals & fayres, look at all that cheese & jam! Heaven! Seems like you both had a lovely day, you make me want to do more day trips too! :)